Honorary President

Edward GarnierQC has been the Conservative MP for Harborough in south east Leicestershire since April 1992. The constituency comprises the Borough of Oadby and Wigston, which includes the Universities Halls of Residence and a large part of the rural District of Harborough including Market Harborough.

Edward was born in Germany, the son of a British Army colonel and was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire and Jesus College, Oxford. Here he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in modern history in 1974 and a master’s degree in 1976. He then went on to study at the College of Law in Chancery Lane in the City of London and became a practising barrister specialising in libel.

Edward’s first foray into politics came when he unsuccessfully contested the West Yorkshire seat of Hemsworth at the 1987 general election, finishing second behind the Labour candidate. He was more successful at the 1992 General Election when he won Harborough following the retirement of the veteran Tory MP John Farr.

In parliament he served on the home affairs select committee from 1992 until he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Alastair Goodlad and David Davis for a year in 1994. In 1996 he became the PPS to the Attorney General Nicholas Lyell, in 1997 he was briefly the PPS to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Roger Freeman. He joined the frontbench under William Hague as a spokesman on the Lord Chancellor’s Department in 1997. He entered Hague’s Shadow Cabinet in 1999 as the Shadow Attorney General, returning to the backbenches after the 2001 General Election. Since the 2005 General Election he has been a spokesman on Home Affairs and then Justice when the Justice department was created.

Edward is very proud of the work that LUCF is doing in Leicester and across the county and very much enjoyed meeting our members at the post Christmas meal we hosted in Leicester. On hearing the news he said that he “would be delighted to accept your offer to become LUCF’s Honorary President. It was very kind of you to suggest this and I look forward to continuing working with the group in future.”